1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fitting structure for process cartridges and an image forming apparatus body, and an image forming apparatus having this structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus for fitting process cartridges of plural colors into the image forming apparatus body, it is necessary to prevent a process cartridge of a specific color from being fit to other place than a predetermined position.
According to an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-84534, process cartridges of respective colors are provided with incompatible keys on different positions on side plates thereof, and a guide rail for guiding each of the process cartridges to a fitting position of the image forming apparatus is provided with a concave portion to only accept the incompatible key of the predetermined process cartridge. Due to the engagement between the incompatible key and the concave portion, it is possible to certainly fit each of the process cartridges to the predetermined position of the apparatus body.
However, according to the above-described image forming apparatus, since it is necessary that the process cartridges are provided with the side plates with the different shapes corresponding to a plurality of colors and the concave portions corresponding to these side plates are provided to respective guide rails. Therefore, its manufacturing cost increases. In addition, this apparatus has another problem that the color of the toner of the process cartridge cannot be identified since the incompatible key is not given an identification information of the color of the toner.